Striker Mehdi Taremi is leaving Porto for Inter Milan with an impressive record of goals and assists whilst playing for the Portuguese side.
Today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews, highlight the Iranian international’s ninety goals and 55 assists across the last four club seasons.
It is hardly a secret why Inter have been keen to sign Taremi.
The 31-year-old had already been on the Nerazzurri’s radar last summer. They balked at Porto’s asking price, however, signing Marko Arnautovic instead.
And AC Milan had also made a serious attempt to sign Taremi at the tail end of the transfer window.
But now, Inter will be signing the Iranian international. He will officially make the move once his contract with Porto expires at the end of next month.
And Taremi’s numbers with Porto speak for themselves.
The 31-year-old has become an all-around striker capable of producing goals, assists, holdup play, and a real physical presence battling with opposition defenders.
Taremi has scored a total of ninety goals across four seasons at Porto. He also has bagged 55 assists.
This testifies to the fact that the Iranian is a fairly balanced centre-forward, and not merely a goal poacher.
In the 2021-22 season, Taremi scored twenty goals in the league, and 26 in all competitions. This was a big part of Porto winning the league title that season.
Then during the 2022-23 campaign, the Iranian was actually more prolific.
Taremi scored 22 goals in the league and 31 across all competitions for Porto last campaign. However, Benfica pipped them to the title.
This time around, it has not been quite so prolific for Taremi.
The year-old has found the back of the net ten times across all competitions. Six of these have come in the league.
However, this is partly a reflection of the fact that Taremi hasn’t started as regularly as in previous seasons.
Now, the question will be whether Taremi can reproduce his best form from Porto at Inter.
The 31-year-old is hardly going to start every match with Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram already the first-choice options.
But Inter have signed Taremi to add genuine quality and depth. And competition for Martinez and Thuram.
Simone Inzaghi’s 3-5-2 system will be an adjustment for Taremi. But it could also be an opportunity to take both his goalscoring and all-around game to another level, as it has for several strikers in the past.
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